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CME CoURGg RAW. 


EDITED BY 
GEORGE JAMES ‘BAYLES, PH.D. 
LECTURER IN 


THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


INAV Ea 


111 FirTH AVENUE, NEw YorkK 
COPYRIGHT 
1898 


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NEW JERSEY CIVIL CHURCH LAW 


The Constitutional Guaranties, 1 

The Civil Aspects of Religious So- 
cieties, 2 

Church Property, 4 

The Jurisdiction of the Courts, 7 

General Provisions for Incorpora- 
tion, 8 

Name to Be Certified and Record- 
ed, 9 

Power to Hold Property, 9 

To Perpetuate a Board of Trus- 
tees, 10 

The President and His Powers, 11 

The Secretary and His Duties, 11 

The Treasurer and His Duties, 12 

Power to Sell and Convey Real 
Estate, 12 

Annual Meetings, 18 

Majority of Trustees Church Mem- 
bers, 13 

Treasurer May Be Elected, 13 

The Number and Term of Trus- 
tees, 14 

Annual Meetings, How Called, 14 

Change of Church Name, 14 

Certificate to Be Filed, 14 

Change of Corporation Name, 14 

Change of Officers and Terms, 15 

May Establish New Depart- 
ments, 15 

Certificate to Be Filed, 15 

Societies May Consolidate, 15 

Use of Church Funds, 16 

School Funds of Churches, 16 


Erroneous Title, How Corrected, 17 

Conveyance by Trustees to 
Church, 17 

Trustees May Sell Church Prop- 
erty, 18 

Application to Chancellor, 19 

May Increase Amount and Value of 
Property, 21 

Limitation Upon Amount of Prop- 
erty, 22 

Conferences, Confraternities, Dioces- 


an Conventions, Presbyteries, 
Synods, Ete., 22 

State Denominational Organiza- 
tions, 24 

Societies or Confraternities of Clergy- 
men, 25 

Managers of Funds for Retired 
Clergy, 27 

The General Powers of Corpora- 
tions, 28 


Of Baptist Churches, 28 

Of Christian Reformed Churches, 32 

Of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, 
32 

Of German Reformed Churches, 33 

Of Israelites, 33 

Of Methodist Episcopal Churches, 34 

Of Presbyterian Churches, 34 

Of Protestant Episcopal Churches, 36 

Of Reformed Dutch Churches, 43 

Of Reformed Episcopal Churches, 47 

Of Roman Catholic Churches, 47 

Cases Cited, 49 


THE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTIES, 


in effect June 29, 1844: No person shall be deprived of the 
inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a 
manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; 
nor under any pretense whatever be compelled to attend 
any place of worship contrary to his faith and judgment; 
nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or 


other rates for building or repairing any church or 
churches, place or places of worship, or for the main- 
tenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he — 
believes to be right, or has deliberately and voluntarily 
engaged to perform. Article l.—8. 

There shall be no establishment of one religious sect, 
in preference to another; no religious test shall be re- 
quired as a qualification for any office or public trust; and 
no person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, 
merely on account of his religious principles. Ib.,—4. 

No donation of land or appropriation of money shall be 
made by the State or any municipal corporation to or for 
the use of any society, association, or corporation what- 
ever. Ib.,—20. 

The legislature shall pass no special act conferring cor- 
porate powers, but they shall pass general laws under 
which corporations may be organized and corporate 
powers obtained, subject to repeal and alteration at the 
will of the legislature. Article IV., Section VII. 


THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 


Every Denomination Recognized as an Entity. Any 
and every church, religious society, or denomination of 
Christians now or hereafter to be established in the 
United States of America, and the supreme governing 
body thereof, whether sole or aggregate, shall be sever- 
ally recognized in this State, as well in courts of justice 
as elsewhere, as an entity bearing the name by which it 
is commonly called and known, the want of any civil cor- 
poration notwithstanding; and said supreme governing 
body, whether sole or aggregate, shall be and hereby is 
authorized to bring or institute or maintain any action, 
suit, or proceeding, in any court of this State, to enforce 
the civil rights and claims of the whole church, religious 
society, or denomination of Christians. 

The words or phrases “ church,” “religious society,” 
“denomination of Christians,” as in this act used and 
employed, are hereby defined to mean and include, and 


®) 


~ 


shall be construed in courts of justice and elsewhere to 
mean and include, the whole body of religious believers 
having a common faith and polity. Act approved Mar. 
15, 1898. 

To constitute membership in any church from the 
standpoint of the civil law two points, at least, are regard- 
ed as essential,—a profession of its faith and a submis- 
sion to its government. After persons withdraw from a 
church they do not continue to be members of it simply 
because they continue to hold the same religious faith 
and tenets as the members of that church. Den. Day v. 
Bolton, 7 Hal., 206. 

Religious societies whose trustees are incorporated un- 
der the general statute present in law a threefold aspect: 
(1) the congregation which usually meets together for re- 
ligious worship and instruction; (2) the church, strictly 
so called, composed of those entitled to full church privi- 
leges, and (8) the trustees or corporation. Miller v. Baptist 
Church, 1 Harr., 251. 

In societies where the source of authority is action by 
the whole body of members and which are incorporated 
under the general act, the acts and proceedings of a ma- 
jority at a regular meeting are binding on the minority 
in temporal affairs. Miller v. English, 1 Zab., 317. 

It is not a valid objection to action taken at a meeting 
of such a congregation that members of the congregation 
were absent, or, being present, did not vote. Where a so- 
ciety is composed of an indefinite number of persons, a 
majority of those who appear at a regular meeting consti- 
tute a body to transact business. The presumption is that 
all the members present who observe silence when a 
question is put, concur with the majority of those who 
actually vote—that is if the question be put audibly and 
explicitly. Worrell v. First Church, ©. E. Gr., 96. 

A congregation or an inferior ecclesiastical corpora- 
tion which, by its organization, is connected with and sub- 
ject to the superior jurisdiction of the denomination to 
which it belongs, can not by the act of the corporation, or 


3 


a majority, secede from the denomination, declare them- 
selves independent, and take their corporate property 
with them. American Primitive Society v. Pilling, 4 
Zab., 653. 

Who are the officers of ecclesiastical organizations is 
to be determined by the constitution of the organization 
itself, including the decisions of its own tribunals. Where 
an officer of a religious society has been duly appointed, 
and the term of his office does not cease by limitation of 
time, the presumption is that he remains in office until 
competent evidence of his due removal has been fur- 
nished; and whoever claims on the ground that his office 
has ceased, must establish it by legal and sufficient proof. 
Hendrickson v. Decow, Sax., 578. 

If there be a resignation of an officer it does not take 
effect until accepted. Doremus v. Dutch Church, 2 Gr. 
Ch., 332. 

The pastoral relation is considered as being for relig- 
ious purposes, and not for mercenary ends, but the con- 
tract involved in it, which the law enforces and protects, 
and the surrender of which when it involves matter of 
pecuniary loss, is lawful matter of compensation, and is a 
valid consideration for a contract to pay money. Wor- 
rell v. First Church of Millstone, C. E. Gr., 96. 


CHURCH PROPERTY. 


The following property shall be exempt from taxation, 
VizZ.: 

All buildings erected and used for religious worship 
and the land whereon the same are situate, necessary to 
the fair use and enjoyment thereof, not exceeding five 
acres for each one, the furniture thereof and the personal 
property used therein and the endowment or fund of any 
religious society, provided, that no building so used which 
may be rented for such purposes and rent received by the 
owner therefor shall be exempted, and pews in churches. 
Act of April 11, 1866. 

The dwelling house owned by any religious corporation 


+ 


and the land upon which the same stands, while and 
during only the time actually used by the officiating cler- 
gyman of such religious corporation, shall be exempt 
from taxation to an amount not exceeding five thousand 
dollars, but not more than one dwelling actually used by 
any one religious corporation shall be so exempt. Act of 
March 11, 1893. 

The following property is also exempt from taxation: 
All colleges, academies or seminaries of learning, public 
libraries, school houses, buildings erected and used for 
religious worship, buildings used as asylums or schools 
for the care, cure, nurture, maintenance, and education 
of feeble minded or idiotic persons and children, pro- 
vided such institutions are duly incorporated under the 
laws of the State of New Jersey, and the land whereon the 
same are situate necessary to the fair use and enjoyment 
thereof, not exceeding five acres for each one; the furni- 
ture thereof and the personal property used therein, the 
endowment of any religious society, college, academy, 
seminary of learning, or public library, or institution for 
feeble minded persons, provided, that no building so used 
which may be rented for such purposes and rent received 
by the owner therefor, shall be exempted; pews in 
churches, grave yards, not exceeding ten acres of ground, 
cemeteries, and all buildings used exclusively for charita- 
ble purposes, with the land whereon the same are erected, 
and which may be necessary for the fair enjoyment there- 
of, and the furniture and personal property used therein. 
Act of May 16, 1894. 

A mortgage held by a church as security for a sum of 
money bequeathed to a church, with a direction that the 
interest therefrom is to be used in the payment of the 
minister’s salary, is exempt from taxation on the ground 
that the sum secured is an endowment of a religious so- 
ciety. Trustees v. Silverthorn, 23 Vroom, 73. 

The common law right of the alienation of property by 
religious corporations has not been restrained in New 
Jersey by statute. Van Houten v. First Reformed Dutch 
Church, C. E. Green, 126. 

5 


The act to incorporate the trustees of religious societies 
does not by its own force do more than vest the legal title 
to church property in such trustees. The statute was de- 
signed to create a simple trust, so that the trustees should 
hold and dispose of the church property according to the 
directions of their cesuis que trust, who, according to the 
ecclesiastical organization, may be either the congrega- 
tion or certain officials. Morgan v. Rose, 7 C. E. Gr., 583. 

Where property has been given in trust for a church not 
incorporated, it is competent for any person belonging to 
such church, on behalf of himself and all others belonging 
to such church and entitled to the benefits of its funds, to 
come into a court of equity in order to enfcrce the execu- 
tion of the trust. And if the body consists of various con- 
gregations, one or more of them, which may be incor- 
porated, may in like manner enforce the execution of the 
trust. Associate Reformed Church v. Trustees, 3 Gr. Ch., 
(are 

A change in the ecclesiastical relation of a church or 
religious society for whose benefit property is held in trust 
does not of itself involve any perversion of the trust, or 
diversion of the fund from its legitimate purpose. 
Swedesborough Church v. Shivers, 1 C. E. Gr., 453. 

But it also seems to be a well established principle that 
when part of any religious association separates from the 
original body and establishes a new society, they cease to 
be members of the original society and have no longer 
any claim to the property of the latter. Associate Re- 
formed Church v. Trustees of Theological Seminary, 3 Gr. 
Git. 

Where pews in a church building have been purchased 
and a title given to the purchaser, he has but a qualified 
interest. 

His estate is in the nature of an incorporea] easement. 
His right is subject to that of the trustees, who may take 
down, rebuild, or remove the church edifice for the pur- 
pose of more convenient worship, without making any 
compensation to pew-owners for the temporary interrup- 


6 


tion. On the application of a pew-owner the court has de- 
clined to enjoin the pulling down and rebuilding or the re- 
moval of the church edifice by the trustees whenever it 
shall be found expedient. And the court declared that it 
would not affect its decision that such an application be 
made by a majority of the church members and congrega- 
tion entitled to vote at its congregational meetings. Van 
Houten v. McKelway, 2 C. E. Gr., 126. 

But a writ of injunction has been granted on a bill filed 
by pew-holders restraining the authorities of a church 
from pulling it down for the purpose of using the mate- 
rial in the erection of a new edifice on a different site. 
Van Horn v. Talmage, 4 Hal. Ch., 108. 

On the nature of the estate of a pew-owner see Presby- 
terian Church v. Andruss, 1 Zab., 325, and Van Houten v. 
First Reformed Church, 2 C. E. Gr., 126. 


THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS. 


The jurisprudence of the State emphasizes the general 
principle that the civil courts will not assume jurisdiction 
to control the proceedings of ecclesiastical bodies in 
matters spiritual which do not affect the civil rights 
of individuals. When, however, the civil rights of an 
individual are involved, jurisdiction is committed to 
the courts of law to protect those rights which the court 
can not disregard. Jennings v. Scarborough, 27 Vr., 402. 

The Court of Chancery has said that it can not inquire 
into the doctrines and opinions of any religious society 
for the sake of deciding whether they are right or wrong. 
If a fact be necessary to be ascertained by the court, for 
the purpose of settling a question of property, it is the 
duty of the court to ascertain it; and this must be done 
by such evidence as the nature of the case admits. 

If the doctrines held by any religious society be impor- 
tant in determining a question of property, the persons 
who would avail themselves of such doctrines must prove 
them. Hendrickson v. Decow, Sax., 577. 

The Court of Chancery has declared, however, that it 


7 


will go a great way in protecting trust property, even to 
examining into the creeds and doctrines of religious so- 
cieties, if the nature of the trust depend upon them. But it 
must appear in the bill praying for relief that the trustees 
are perverting the property intrusted to them to uses and 
purposes inconsistent with that trust, and that the mat- 
ters complained of were not such as had been committed 
to their discretion; and to this end the court must be able 
to ascertain the limits of their authority over the prop- 
erty under their charge. Ranier v. Howell, 1 Stock., 121. 
Lutheran Church v. Maschop, 2 Stock., 57. 

The attitude of the court is well illustrated in the case 
of Ludlam v. Higbee, 3 Stock., 342, where the facts were 
that individuals subscribed and contributed a considera- 
ble fund for the purpose of building a church at Cape 
May, for visitors belonging to all denominations of Chris- 
tians, upon the trust that the title was to be vested in and 
held for the purpose mentioned by individuals holding 
the Presbyterian faith. The court held that if the prop- 
erty was conveyed to persons of the Presbyterian persua- 
sion; if a trust was created by which the property was 
to be held by individuals holding the Presbyterian faith, 
to be used as a place of worship for the contributors of 
the fund and others, visitors at Cape May; if the individ- 
uals in whom the title to the property was vested violated 
their trust by conveying the property to an ecclesiastical 
body under the organization of the Methodist Church; 
who held it for the exclusive benefit of persons of their 
own denomination and excluded all other denominations 
of Christians, then the contributors to the fund were en- 
titled to their bill for the protection of the court because 
they were deprived of their benefit from the trust prop- 
erty. 


INCORPORATION AND REGULATION. 


General Provisions for Incorporation. 1. Every relig- 
ious society or congregation of Christians entitled to 
protection in the free use of their religion by the constitu- 


8 


tion and laws of this State, may assemble at their usual 
place of meeting for public worship, at any time they 
have agreed upon, giving at least ten days’ notice of the 
time and purpose of the assembly by an advertisement 
set up in open view at or near the place of meeting. When 
so assembled the society or congregation, by plurality of 
voices of such members present who regularly contribute 
to the support of the society, male and female, over 
twenty-one years of age, may elect any number of the 
society to be trustees. Such trustees and their successors 
in office are constituted a body politic and corporate in 
law by the name they assume according to the statute.— 
Rev. Approved April 9, 1875, as amended March 14, 1879. 

Name to be Certified and Recorded. 2. When such 
trustees take upon themselves a name they shall certify 
such name under their hands and seals, and transmit such 
certificate to the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of 
the county, who should instantly record the same, for 
which he shall be entitled to receive one dollar. There- 
upon such trustees are distinguished in law by the name 
of incorporation, so taken, certified, and recorded. Ib., 
§ 2. 

Power to Hold Property. 3. Such trustees and their 
successors, by such name of incorporation, are able to 
acquire, purchase, receive, have, and hold any lands, tene- 
ments, hereditaments, legacies, donations, moneys, 
goods, and chattels in trust for the use of said society or 
congregation, to an amount in value not exceeding two 
thousand dollars a year, and the same or any part thereof 
to sell, grant, assign, demise, alien, and dispose of; to 
sue or be sued, implead or be impleaded, in any court of 
law or equity; to make and use a common seal, and to 
alter and renew the same at their pleasure. Ib., §3. 

The election of trustees of a religious society must be 
held ai their usual place of meeting. American Society v. 
Pilling, 4 Zab., 653. 

When the usual place of meeting of a society has been 
changed by them, an election of trustees at the old place 
of meeting isinvalid. Miller v. English, 1 Zab., 317. 


9 


When a majority of an electing body protest against 
the election of a proposed candidate, yet do not propose 
any other candidate, the minority may elect him. Hen- 
drickson v. Decow, Sax., 577. - 

No new election of trustees of a religious society whose 
trustees are elected under the statute for one year, can be 
made during the year, unless the trustees have been prop- 
erly removed. American Society v. Pilling. 

Whenever a religious society whose trustees are incor: 
porated under the general act hold a new election of trus- 
tees for the purpose of being incorporated, the object 
of the new election and certificate is to preserve, and not 
to change or dissolve, the old corporation; the new cor- 
poration is in law a continuance of the old. Miller v. 
English, 2 Hal. Ch., 304. 

To Perpetuate a Board of Trustees. In order to per- 
petuate a line of succession in the trustees of any relig- 
ious society or congregation which has been incorpor- 
ated, the members of such a society may assemble at any 
time they may think proper, having given the same 
notice as the law directs for the first. election of 
trustees, to elect any other trustee or trustees in the 
place of those or any of those before elected, in case 
they see cause for the removal of such trustees; pro- 
vided, such removal shall not be less than one year 
after his or their election into office; and also to fill 
the vacancy which may be caused by the expiration of 
the term of office of any trustee or trustees, or by his 
moving out of the limits of the society or congregation. 
At such a meeting any person may vote, male or female, 
being twenty-one years of age, who is a regular attendant 
upon the services of the congregation, and not elsewhere, 
and who contributes regularly to the support of the so- 
ciety or congregation, according to his or her engage- 
ments, whether as a pew-holder or by subscription; pro- 
vided, that no person shall vote at any election of such 
trustees who is not qualified to vote according to any 
limitation, condition, restriction, or trust contained in the 


10 


deed for the church site or other real estate owned, held, 
or occupied by such society or congregation; and pro- 
vided further that in the elections for trustees of religious 
societies or congregations known as Baptists, the persons 
entitled to vote shall be such as have heretofore, by the 
rules and practice of said denomination, been deemed 
qualified to vote, to-wit, all members in good and regular 
standing. Rev., as amended, May 15, 1894. 

The President and His Powers. ‘Trustees so incor- 
porated may elect, annually, or oftener if necessary or 
expedient, one of their number to be their president, with 
power to convene the corporation as occasion may re- 
quire; and to preside at its meetings, and to execute all 
contracts, and, in case of his absence, sickness, death, 
resignation, refusal to act, or moving out of the limits of 
the society or congregation, then the office of president 
devolves on the senior trustee, for the time being, who 
shall occupy the office until the return or recovery of the 
president, or the election of another. Ib.,§5. 

The Secretary and His Duties. Trustees so incorpo- 
rated may elect annually, or oftener if necessary or ex- 
pedient, one of their number to be secretary, who shall 
keep the minutes and enter the orders, acts, and proceed- 
ings in a book to be kept for that purpose, and who shall 
have the custody of the common seal, and the papers, 
deeds, writings, documents, and books of or relating to 
the corporation. Upon application to such a secretary 
any member of the society or congregation may have free 
access to all the papers, deeds, writings, minutes, docu- 
ments, and books belonging to the corporation. Upon 
the death, resignation, removal, or expiration of the office 
of secretary, or the electiomof a new one, all such property 
of the corporation shall be delivered to his successor in 
office, on the oath of the preceding secretary, or in case of 
his death, on the oath of his executors or administrators, 
under such pecuniary penalty as the corporation shall 
have previously fixed, to be recovered with costs by an 
action of debt in the name and for the use of the corpora- 
tion. Ib., §6. 

11 


The Treasurer and His Duties. At the same election 
trustees so incorporated may elect one of their own num- 
ber to be treasurer, who shall have charge of the moneys 
of the corporation and keep a correct account of the re- 
ceipts and disbursements, and, at each annual election 
for officers of the corporation, render to the society or con- 
gregation a true statement in writing of the receipts and 
disbursements of the corporation for the preceeding year, 
and, upon the death, resignation, removal, or expiration of 
the office of treasurer, or the election of a new one, all the 
books, accounts, vouchers, and documents in the custody 
of the treasurer, belonging to the corporation, shall be 
delivered to his successor in office. Ib., §7. 

Power to Sell and Convey Real Estate. It shall be 
lawful for any religious society in this State, how- 
ever incorporated, to purchase and hold, and also to 
convey and dispose of, any real estate which they may 
deem necessary and expedient; provided, that the same 
shall not be used by the religious corporation acquir- 
ing the same for any other purpose than the rendering 
and maintaining in any building now or hereafter erected 
upon such real estate the worship of Almighty God, and 
the furtherance of religion according to the tenets and 
forms of worship of the religious denomination to which 
such religious society belongs, or for education, or the 
administration of charity to the bodies or souls of men; 
provided, however, that it shall be lawful for such relig- 
ious society to hold, and also to convey and dispose of 
land, not exceeding fifty acres heretofore conveyed to 
such religious society for the purposes of a cemetery and 
the burial of the dead, and to sell the same in lots or 
plots for the burial of deceased persons, subject to any 
and all laws of this State governing cemeteries and the 
burial of the dead, and to devote the moneys derived from 
said sale to the laying out, care, and maintenance of said 
cemetery or burial-ground, and for no other purpose; and 
when the moneys received from sales of lots shall be in 
excess of the wants of such religious society for the prop- 


12 


er care and maintenance of its burial-grounds, it shall be 
lawful to invest such surplus in safe and suitable se- 
curities, and the interest derived therefrom shall be de- 
voted to the care and maintenance of its burial-grounds, 
and for no other use; any conveyance or agreement by 
and between any religious corporation intended for the 
purposes aforesaid by or under the authority of such cor- 
poration, now made or hereafter to be made, is hereby 
declared to be valid and effectual in law; the proceedings, 
order, and acts of a majority of all the members of the 
said corporation, but not of a less number, shall be valid 
and effectual in law. 

This act shall be deemed a public act, and shall take 
effect immediately. 

Approved April 12, 1898. 

Of Annual Meetings. Any religious society that has 
been incorporated heretofore by a special act of the legis- 
lature at an annual meeting may designate, by a majority 
of the members present and duly qualified to vote, the 
time and place at which they will hold their annual 
meeting thereafter, any special act to the contrary not- 
withstanding. Act of March 22, 1883. 

The Majority of Trustees [lust be Church [lembers. In 
the election of trustees of any religious society incor- 
porated by special act, it is not necessary as a qualifica- 
tion for such an election that the trustees be members of 
the church in connection with which the corporation 
exists; provided, always, that they are attending mem- 
bers of the congregation, and contribute to the support 
of the church of which they may be elected trustees, and, 
provided also, that at least a majority of the trustees so 
elected shall be members of such churches in good and 
regular standing. Act of March 14, 1879. 

A Treasurer May be Elected. At the same time and in 
the same manner as such trustees are elected, a society 
or congregation may also annually elect a treasurer of 
the society or congregaticn, who becomes ex-officio a mem- 
ber of the board of trustees of the society. Act of March 
9, 1887. 

13 


May Designate the Number and Term of Trustees. At 
such an annual meeting a society or congregation may 
provide by by-law or resolution for the election of its trus- 
tees for a term of three years, but in such a case, at the 
first election held under this act, the number of trustees 
shall be fixed by the society and shall be divided as near 
as can be into three equal numbers, of whom one part 
shall be elected for one year, one part for two years, 
and one part for three years, and then annually there- 
after. The terms of those expiring shall be filled for a 
period of three years. 

Vacancies occurring for any cause shall be filled for the 
unexpired term only. Ib.,§2. 

Annual Meetings, How Called. Annual meetings for 
the election of trustees and the treasurer of any society 
or congregation shall be called by its board of trustees, 
upon a ten days’ notice, as provided by law, signed by the 
secretary of the board and posted as required. Such a 
meeting when convened shall elect its own officers and 
determine its own rules of procedure. Ib., §3. 

Change of Name, How Effected. Any church may 
change its corporate title and assume another title by a 
resolution of the body having the management of its tem- 
poralities, certified under its corporate seal, proved as 
deeds for land must be proved, and when filed in the office 
of the clerk of the county in which said church is situated, 
such a corporation will thereafter be known in law by 
such new title, provided, that the foregoing provision 
shall not be construed to relieve a corporation from any 
legal obligations due to, held by, or belonging to such 
corporation. Act of March 11, 1874, amended April 12, 
1886. 

Certificate to be Filed. The clerk of the county in 
which the church is situated must file the resolution 
changing the corporate title, as certificates of incorpora- 
tion are required to be filed, for which service he is en- 
titled to receive the sum of one dollar. Ib., §2. 

Proceedings to Change Name. Any religious corpora- 


14 


tion may, by a two-thirds vote, at any regular meeting, 
change its corporate name, specifying by such vote what 
the new corporate name shall be. Thereafter the corpo- 
ration is to be known by the new name so adopted, and 
shall, by such new name, retain all its property, and enjoy 
the same powers and be subject to the same liabilities as 
if the name had not been changed. Act of March 14, 1893. 

Change of Officers and Terms. Any such religious cor- 
poration may, by a majority vote at any regular meeting, 
make such changes in the number of officers and man- 
agers or trustees of the corporation, and the terms of 
their office, as may be considered for the interests of the 
corporation. Ib., §2. 

May Establish New Departments. Any such religious 
corporation may at any regular meeting by a majority 
vote establish any new department or departments of 
religious work not specified in the act of incorporation, 
and maintain the same. Ib., §3. 

Certificate to be Filed. Whenever any or all of the 
changes provided for in this act are made, a certificate of 
such change or changes, over the hand of the presiding 
officer of the corporation, attested by the secretary, shall 
be filed with the secretary of state within thirty days 
after such change is made. Ib., §4. 

Societies May Consolidate. Whenever two incorporated 
religious societies of the same denomination agree, with 
the approval of the presbytery, classis, or other like gov- 
erning body within whose jurisdiction they are located, 
to consolidate their two societies into one, the boards of 
trustees or other like bodies of the two societies may 
make, under their respective seals, with the signature of 
the president of each, and attested by the secretary, a 
certificate that such two societies have consolidated, giv- 
ing also the name which they have selected for the new 
organization, and transmit the same to the clerk of the 
Court of Common Pleas of the county, whose duty it shal] 
be to instantly record the same. 


15 


Thereupon such two societies become consolidated into 
one corporation, under the name selected, which is in- 
vested with all the property, assets, rights, privileges, 
powers, and franchises belonging to either of the two 
former societies, but subject to all the debts and liabilities 
of each, and to the terms of agreement under which such 
consolidation was made. 

From the time of such consolidation the new corpora- 
tion shall possess and exercise all the powers, rights, 
privileges, and franchises which any religious society of 
like denomination may possess and exercise when incor- 
porated under the existing laws of the State. Act of 
March 5, 1890. 

Use of Church Funds. It shall not be lawful for the 
rector, wardens, and vestrymen, or the trustees, consis- 
tory, or session of any church, congregation, or religious 
society, incorporated under any of the laws of this State 
to divert the estate, property, or revenue belonging there- 
to to any purpose except the support and maintenance 
of the church or religious or benevolent institution or 
object connected with the church or denomination to 
which such corporation shall belong, and the highest 
judicatory of any denomination from which property is at- 
tempted to be, or is being, or shall be diverted in violation 
hereof, is hereby authorized to enforce the foregoing pro- 
vision; but nothing herein contained shall be construed 
as preventing action being taken by members of the con- 
gregation or otherwise, as heretofore, to enforce the said 
provision. Act of March 25, 1881. 

School Funds of Churches. The Chancellor, summarily 
upon petition of any person or persons or body corporate, 
holding funds or sum of money which may have been 
given for the purpose of either maintaining schools or the 
support of poor people as scholars in schools formerly 
maintained on the property of religious sccieties, which 
schools have now ceased to exist, may inquire into the 
merits of such application, and if it be found impossible 
to fully carry out and comply with the provisions of such 


16 


trust, may order payment of the income from such funds 
to the maintenance of the property of such religious so- 
ciety, or for any other purpose nearest akin to the trust, 
Act of May 12, 1890. 

Erroneous Title, How Corrected. Where in a deed of 
conveyance the corporate name of a religious society or 
corporation as the grantees is not correctly stated, and 
where the intention of the grantor is signified by the use 
of the principal words of the corporate name, and where 
such society or corporation have entered into possession 
and occupation of such real estate, such society or cor- 
poration may file with the clerk or register of the county 
a statement setting forth the date of such deed of con- 
veyance, the date of the recording, the number and page 
of the book of record, the names of the grantor or 
erantors, the description of the property conveyed, the 
erroneous title as expressed in such deeds, and the correct 
title thereof. Such a statement shall be verified by the 
affidavit of any duly authorized officer of such society or 
corporation, taken by one authorized to take the acknowl- 
edgment and proof of deeds. The clerk or register shall 
have the usual fee for the recording of deeds. 

Upon the recording of such statement such societies or 
corporations shall be deemed to be vested in as perfect 
title tc real estate so conveyed by an erroneous corporate 
name, as though the same had been conveyed to them by 
their proper corporate name, and such verified state- 
ments, or duly certified copies, shall be received as evi- 
dence in any of the courts of this State. Act of March 9, 
1877. 

Conveyance by Trustees to Church. In case the trus- 
tees of an intended church organization, still unincorpor- 
ated, have taken title to real estate in their own names, 
or in their own names as trustees of such intended organi- 
zation, and such organization becomes perfected accord- 
ing to law by the same or other name, it shall be lawful, 
and such trustees, or the survivors or survivor of them, 
are, and is, authorized and required to convey by sufficient 


17 


deeds in law all their right, title, and interest in such real 
estate to the trustees of such perfected organization by 
the same or any other name than the one originally in- 
tended; and when such lands shall have been so con- 
veyed, such perfected organization shall hold the same as 
completely as though the said organization had been 
originally perfected according to law. Act of March 25, 
1881. 

Trustees of Any Church [May Convey to Church. In all 
cases where the conveyance of real estate has been made 
to the trustees of any religious society by their individual 
names as trustees of such society, such trustees and the 
survivors or their successors in office are authorized to 
convey the same to the particular society of which they 
are trustees, by its corporate name, and such a conveyance 
shall vest in said society as valid a title as if the convey- 
ance to said trustees had been made directly to such so- 
ciety by its corporate name. Act of March 8, 1887. 

Trustees May Sell Church Property. Any incorporated 
religious society, by its trustees, consistory, or other 
board or persons managing its temporalities, are author- 
ized to sell and convey, in fee simple or otherwise, any 
real estate owned by them, together with the appurte- 
nances, and to execute and deliver good and sufficient 
deeds of conveyance, and every such deed or deeds shall 
be good and effectual in law; provided such a sale shall 
have been duly authorized at a meeting of such religious 
society, by the vote of two-thirds of those present; and, 
provided, further, that such meeting shall have been 
legally called. Act of Feb. 27, 1889, amending Act of 
April 5, 1886. 

Trustees Have Power to Sell and Convey Lands, etc. 
Any incorporated religious society holding the title to 
real estate in trust or on condition that the same be used 
for church purposes, may, by its board of trustees, con- 
sistory, or other board managing its temporalities, with- 
out a vote of the members of the society, sell and convey in 
fee simple or otherwise such real estate or any part there- 


18 


of, with the appurtenances, freed from such trust or con- 
dition, and the deed therefor shall convey to the pur. 
chaser a title effectual in law, free from such trust or con- 
dition; provided, the donor or donors by whom such trust 
was created or condition imposed, shall have discharged 
the property of such society from such trust or condition, 
or shail consent to such conveyance free from such trust 
or condition. Act of March 26, 1889, supplement to Act 
of April 5, 1886. 

Trustees May Sell or Mortgage Church Property. Any 
incorporated religious society, by its trustees or other 
board managing its temporalities, may sell and convey in 
fee simple, or by way of mortgage or any other estate, 
any or all real estate owned by such society in fee simple} 
and give all necessary conveyances therefor; provided 
that any such sale be first authorized at a regular or spe- 
cial business meeting of the members of such religious 
society. Act of March 31, 1890. 

Application to Chancellor for Leave to Sell Lands. 
Whenever any incorporated religious society entitled to 
lands and tenements, granted or devised to them by deed, 
will, or otherwise, appropriating the rents, issues, and 
profits thereof to specific use, but without power to sell 
and convey the same, shall represent to the chancellor 
that the interest of the persons of such society in such 
lands should be sold and disposed of, the chancellor may, 
in a summary manner, inquire into the merits of the appli- 
cation, and from such time the persons interested in such 
lands, and such society, as the case may be, as far as 
relates to such lands, its proceeds, and income, shall br 
considered wards in chancery. On every such applica- 
tion the chancellor shall, in his discretion, appoint a suit- 
able trustee, or trustees, who shall give bond to the State, 
to be filed with the clerk of the Court of Chancery, in such 
penalty and with such surety as the chancellor shall 
direct, conditioned for the just and faithful performance 
of the trust, and for the observance of such orders and 
directions as the chancellor shall, from time to time, make 


19 


in the premises, which bond, if forfeited, may be prose- 
cuted by the direction of the chancellor. 

After such bond shall be filled, the chancellor may pro- 
ceed in a summary manner, by reference to a master, to 
inquire into the merits of such application, and, as often 
as it shall satisfactorily appear to the court that the in- 
terests of the parties requires, or will be substantially 
promoted by, a sale of such land, or any part thereof, the 
chancellor may direct such a sale by the trustees, either 
in whole or by subdivision, and upon such terms of credit 
as may be deemed expedient, and all sales made in good 
faith, and in pursuance of the directions of the court, 
when confirmed, shall be effectual in law. 

All such sales shall be reported on oath or affirmation 
of the trustees to the chancellor, to be approved by him 
before a conveyance shall be executed. 

If such sale be confirmed, and a conveyance directed 
to be executed, the chancellor shall then make such 
further order for the disposition of the proceeds, and for 
their investment, as the case may require. 

The proceeds of such sale shall be invested in good and 
sufficient bonds of individuals, secured by mortgage on 
unincumbered real estate in the State, worth, without 
buildings, double the amount loaned, payable with in- 
terest semi-annually, or invested in the public funded 
debt of the United States, and upon the payment of the 
principal sum invested, or any part thereof, the amount 
shall be again so invested, and the interest arising on 
such investment, as soon as received, shall be paid to the 
persons and for the uses specified in the grant, deed, or 
devise, and for no other use or purpose; provided, always. 
that no loan of money received by virtue of the sale of 
such land shall be made to any person for a greater sum 
than one thousand dollars, unless it may be for the con- 
sideration of lands sold to such person by virtue of this 
act. 

The trustees shall be liable to account, under order of 
the Court of Chancery, before such master as the chancel- 


20 


lor may designate, upon the application of any society, or 
persons interested in the funds, and the report of such 
master shall be liable to exceptions; and the chancellor 
shall have power to give complete relief to the parties. 

No land upon which a place of worship is or may be 
erected, or granted for that purpose, or burying ground, 
shall be liable to be so sold. 

Upon the settlement of their account, the chancellor 
may direct the assignment of all bonds and mortgages 
and public stocks remaining in their hands to the society, 
to which such lands sold may have been granted or de- 
vised to be held by such society in trust for the purposes 
prescribed in such grant or devise, and for no other pur- 
pose. Act of March 23, 1859. 

The chancellor may, on due cause shown, order the 
whole or any part of such proceeds to be reinvested in 
other or more desirable real estate. Act of March 3, 
1880. 

Tay Increase Amount or Value of Property. When- 
ever any religious corporation shall, by its charter or 
otherwise, be limited in the amount or value of the prop- 
erty which it may acquire and hold for the purposes of 
such corporation, and the trustees shall desire legal 
capacity to acquire and hold a larger amount, such trus- 
tees may, at any stated meeting of their board, and from 
time to time, adopt by a vote of a majority of the whole 
number of trustees, a resolution declaring their desire 
to have the amount so enlarged, and stating the amount 
to which it is to be increased, and cause an authenticated, 
verified copy of such resolution to be filed with the sec- 
retary of state. 

Such copy shall be certified under the common seal of 
the corporation, and verified by the oath of the clerk of 
the corporation that such copy is the true copy of the 
original resolution as recorded on the minutes, and that 
it was passed as the law directs. 

Upon the filing of such a copy the corporation shall be 
authorized to hold an increased amount of real and per- 
sonal estate. Act of March 27, 1889. 


21 


Limitation Upon Amount of Property. Any corpora- 
tion of this State created by any general or special law for 
benevolent and charitable purposes is authorized to pos- 
sess real and personal property not exceeding in value 
the sum of five hundred thousand dollars. 

Such corporation may, by vote of its governing body, 
change the location of its principal place of business. 

Nothing in this act shall be construed to exempt the 
property of such corporation from taxation. Act of March 
5, 1890. 

Of Conferences, Confraternities, Diocesan Conventions, 
Presbyteries, Synods, etc. Every association composed 
of representatives from religious societies or congrega- 
tions of Christians may, at any regular meeting, by a ma- 
jority of votes, by ballot or otherwise, according to the 
law of such association, appoint not exceeding seven 
members of said association to be trustees of the same, 
which trustees are constituted a body corporate by what- 
ever name they legally assume. 

Such trustees, when they take a name, shall certify 
such name under their hands and seals, and file such certi- 
ficate with the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the 
county in which such association held such election of 
trustees. 

Such trustees may receive and dispose of real and per- 
sonal property to an amount in value not exceeding two 
thousand dollars a year. 

The proceedings of a majority of all the trustees of such 
corporation, but not of a less number, shall be effectual in 
law. 

To perpetuate a line of succession in such trustees, the 
members of such association at any regularly appointed 
meeting may elect a trustee or trustees in the stead of any 
of those before elected, in case they see cause for the re- 
moval of such trustees; provided, such removal shall not 
be in less than one year after their election into office, and 
also to fill the vacancy which may be caused by the death 
or resignation of any trustee. 


22 


Such corporation shall elect, as often as they shall 
deem it expedient, one of their number to be their presi- 
dent, who has power to convene the corporation as occa- 
sion may require, preside at its meetings, and execute all 
contracts. 

In case of his inability or refusal to act, then the office 
of president shall devolve on the senior trustee for the 
time being, who shall serve until the president is able or 
willing to serve, or the election of another. 

Such corporation may elect, as often as expedient, a 
secretary, who shall keep the minutes, record the pro- 
ceeedings, have the custody of the common seal and of all 
documents and books of or relating to such corporation. 
Any member of such corporation or such association shall 
have free access to all such papers. 

All such papers shall be delivered to his successor in 
office on the oath of the preceeding secretary, or in case 
of his death, on the oath of his executors or administra- 
tors. 

Such corporation may elect as often as they deem it 
expedient one of their number to be a treasurer, who shall 
have charge of all the moneys of the corporation, and who 
shall, when required by the corporation or the association, 
render a true statement in writing of the receipts and dis- 
bursements of the corporation. Act of March 8, 1877. 

Diocesan Conventions, Presbyteries, Synods, etc. Any 
diocesan convention, presbytery, classis, synod, annual 
conference, or other governing body having jurisdiction 
over a number of incorporated or unincorporated 
churches, congregations, or societies of any church or re- 
ligious denomination in this State, may at any stated or 
regularly convened meeting elect certain discreet persons, 
who, upon filing a proper certificate, shall become a body 
corporate. 

The presiding officer and clerk or secretary of such 
governing body, at the time of such election, shall imme- 
diately thereafter prepare a certificate in writing under 
their hands and seals, which shall contain the title of 


23 


such body corporate, the names of the trustees so elected, 
and the times for which they were respectively chosen to 
serve, and file the same with the secretary of state. 

Any such governing body may, in its discretion, elect 
more than one set of trustees in such manner, who may in 
like manner become incorporated, and adopt names to 
designate them, reference being had to the object of their 
trust. 

Such trustees shall be elected for three years, one or 
more each year, except that the first trustees shall be 
elected, one-third of the number for one year, one-third 
for two years, and one-third for three years. All of which 
trustees shall, when so required by the governing body, 
furnish to such body an account of the particulars and 
items of their trust, and permit an auditing of the same 
and an inspection of their books and investments, and all 
things pertaining thereto at such time and in such mode 
as such governing body directs. Act of March 6, 1886, 
amending Act of Feb. 10, 1885. 

State Denominational Organizations. When the socie- 
ties or congregations belonging to any one denomination 
or classification, incorporated or having a right to be- 
come jncorporated under the Act of April 9, 1875, or any 
of the supplements thereto, form a general organization 
in this State in which all the societies or congregations 
of that denomination are entitled to representation, such 
State organization or the executive committee thereof 
may elect any number of its members as trustees, and 
such trustees may adopt a name and certify the same 
under their hands and seals and transmit such certificate 
to the Secretary of State, who shall record the same. 

Such trustees and their successors shall, by the name 
adopted, become a body corporate; and it shall be the 
duty of each state organization, or the executive commit- 
tee thereof, to cause notice of all elections of trustees to 
be given personally to all members of such State organi- 
zation or executive committee, or mailed to them at their 
postoffice addresses, if resident in this State, at least ten 
days before such election, unless such notice be waived. 


24 


Such body corporate shall have power to purchase, 
hold, mortgage, and convey real and personal property, 
and erect buildings thereon for purposes of business, rec- 
reation, or resort, which property and buildings shall be 
for the use of the members of such societies and congre- 
gations and others, subject to regulations adopted by 
such corporation, and approved by such State organiza. 
tion or executive committee. Act of March 30, 1892, a 
supplement to Act of April 9, 1875. 

Societies or Confraternities of Clergymen. Any church 
or congregation established by a branch of any society 
or confraternity of clergymen in this State may be incor- 
porated. The pastor of such church or congregation for 
the time being, and four of the clergymen resident in the 
house or parsonage connected with such church, and 
members of the society or confraternity by which the con- 
gregation has been established, elected by a majority of 
the clergymen so resident, may sign a certificate setting 
forth the name by which they and their successors shall 
be known as a body politic, and transmit such certificate 
to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the county, 
who shall file and record the same, receiving therefor a fee 
of one dollar. 

The persons so signing such certificate shall be the trus- 
tees of such corporation, and they and their successors, 
by the name of incorporation, shall be able to acquire, 
purchase, receive, have, and hold any lands, tenements, 
hereditaments, legacies, donations, moneys, goods, and 
chattels in trust for the use of such congregation to an 
amount not exceeding three thousand dollars a year, ex- 
clusive of the church edifices, school houses, and par- 
sonages, and the lands whereon the same may be erected, 
and burying plots, and the same or any part thereof to 
sell, grant, assign, demise, alien, and dispose of, to sue 
and be sued, to plead and be impleaded in any court of 
law or equity, to make and use a common seal, and the 
same to alter and renew. 

To perpetuate a line of succession in such trustees the 


25 


successor in office for the time being of such pastor shail 
by virtue of his ofiice be a trustee; and the office of either 
of the irustees shall become vacant by his removal out of 
the limits of such congregation, and whenever the office of 
any such trustee, except the pastor, shall become vacant 
by death, removal, resignation, or otherwise, his successor 
shall be chosen as were the original members of such 
board of trustees. 

Such corporation may elect annually, or oftener if ex- 
pedient, one of their members to be president, who shall 
keep the minutes and record the proceedings of the cor- 
poratien, and have the custody of the common seal and of 
the papers, documents, deeds, writings, and books of or 
relating to such corporation, and may convene such cor- 
poration as occasion may require. 

The proceedings of a majority of all the members of 
such corporation, but not of a less number, shall be effec- 
tual in law. 

If any such corporation shall be dissolved by failure 
to continue the succession of trustees, it may be revived, 
and the church or congregation incorporated under this 
act at any time within six years from the date of such 
dissolution; and thereupon all the property, real and per- 
sonal, belonging to such dissolved corporation at the time 
of its dissolution, shall rest in such new corporation. 
Act of March 23, 1883. 

No license shall be granted to keep an inn or tavern, 
or to sell spirituous, vinous, or malt and brewed liquors 
within the limits of any lands, owned or controlled by 
any camp-meeting association incorporated under the 
laws of the State, used for religious worship or for any 
objects or purpose for which such associations are formed, 
nor within one mile in any direction from the outside 
limits of such lands, except that it may be lawful to re- 
new, from time to time, any such license now existing to 
make sale thereof at any inn or tavern now located at, 
and lawfully doing business as such, within such limits. 
Approved March 9, 1896. 


Any incorporated religious society owning and control- 
ling burying grounds, may take and hold any property, 
real or personal, bequeathed or given upon trust, to apply 
the income to the improvement of such burying ground, 
or the erection or preservation of vaults or other features 
of such burying grounds. Approved Feb. 23, 1897. 

Managers of Funds for Retired Clergy. The number of 
managers or directors hereafter to be elected by any cor- 
poration to provide for the support and maintainance of 
supernumerary or superannuated ministers of the gospel, 
or the widows or orphans of deceased ministers of the 
gospel, or to provide for both or any of such objects, shall 
not exceed eighteen, one-half of whom at least shall be 
laymen, who shall be residents of the State of New Jer- 
sey, and members of some church of the denomination of 
Christians to which said corporation shall belong. It 
shall be the duty of such corporations electing such 
managers or directors to prescribe by by-law, or other- 
wise, the term of office of such managers or directors, 
which term shall not exceed three years. Approved March 
10, 1898. 


THE GENERAL POWERS OF CORPORATIONS. 


Every corporation as such is deemed to have power: 

1. To have succession by its corporate name, for the 
period limited in its charter or certificate of incorpora- 
tion, and when no period is limited, perpetually. 

2. To sue and be sued, complain and defend in any 
court of law or equity. 

3. To make and use a common seal, and alter the same 
at pleasure. 

4. To hold, purchase, and convey such real and per- 
sonal property as the uses of the corporation shall re- 
quire, not exceeding the amount limited in its charter, 
and all other real estate which shall have been bona fide 
mortgaged to the said corporation by way of security, 
or conveyed to them in satisfaction of debts previously 
contracted in the course of dealings, or purchased at sales 


27 


upon judgment or decree, which shall be obtained for 
such debts; and to mortgage any such real and personal 
estate with their franchises; the power to hold real and 
personal estate includes the power to take the same by 
devise or bequest. 

5. To appoint such subordinate officers and agents as 
the business of the corporation shall require, and to 
allow them a suitable compensation. 

6. To make by-laws not inconsistent with the constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States and of this State. 

7. To wind up and dissolve itself, or be wound up and 
dissolved in the manner provided by law. Revision, April 
7, 1875. 

The provisions of the act relating to the insolvency of 
corporations do not apply to incorporated religious so- 
cieties. 

No corporation to be organized under the laws of this 
State shall assume or use a name or title already in use 
by another corporation so organized, or so nearly similar 
to the name or title of any other corporation of this State 
as to lead to uncertainty and confusion. Act of March 7, 
LE8s. 

The fees and taxes required by law to be paid to the 
secretary of state on filing in the department of state any 
certificate or other paper relative to corporations, shall 
not apply to or be collected from incorporated religious 
or charitable societies or associations; and all certificates 
and other papers relative to such societies or associations 
may be filed in the department of state without the pay- 
ment of any fee or tax. Act of April 24, 1894. 

This is, of course, no exemption from the fees due the 
register of the county and the clerk of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas. 


BAPTIST CHURCHES. 


How Incorporated. When the members of any Bap- 
tist church desire to form themselves into a body corpor- 
ate, notice of such intention shall be given by an adver- 


28 


tisement signed by the clerk, or clerk pro tempore of 
such church, and set up in open view, at least ten days 
previous to the day named, at or near the place where the 
members of such church usually assemble for public 
worship, and designating the day and hour when, and 
the place where, they design to meet for such purpose. 
Upon the day and hour so named, and at the place so 
named, the members of the church shall assemble, and, 
by a majority of the votes of the members present, adopt 
a corporate name. 

By a similar vote they may elect any number of persons, 
not less than three nor more than seven, being members 
of such church or of the congregation meeting therewith, 
to be a board of trustees. At such a meeting the pastor 
or any member of the church called to the chair shall 
preside, and the clerk of the church shall be the secretary 
of the meeting and record the proceedings. If no regula- 
tion upon the subject has been adopted by the church, 
then five members of the church shall constitute a quo- 
rum, but a smaller number may adjourn the meeting 
from time to time. P. L. 1878, p. 147. 

A certificate of incorporation under the hands and seals 
of the president and secretary of the meeting shall be 
filed in the office of the county clerk, who is entitled to a 
fee of one dollar. P. L., 1876, p. 1323. 

Upon the filing of the certificate the members of the 
church and their successors are, and thereafter continue 
to be, a body politic and corporate, in fact and in law, 
by the name expressed in the certificate. Such a corpo- 
ration has all the powers and is subject to all the liabili- 
ties of the corporations named in the general act. Any 
devise and bequest to any such corporation shall not be 
defeated by reason of any misnomer, if the intention of 
the testator can be ascertained. P. L., 1876, p. 1323. 

The trustees, as soon as practicable after their election, 
shall organize for business by appointing one of their 
number as president, who shall have the custody of the 
deeds and muniments of title of the property of the cor- 


29 


poration. ‘Cle board shall report to the church annually, 
or oftener if required, an accurate account of their trans- 
actions and the financial condition of the church. 

All the proceedings of the board shall be by a majority 
vote of all the members. P. L., 1878, p. 147, §3. 

The board of trustees shall have the care of the church 
property, except moneys raised for the support of the 
pastor or for benevolent objects. 

They shall not have power to alienate, sell, or incumber 
such property, close the house of worship to the business 
or religious meetings of such church, or permit the same 
to be used for other than such meetings, buy, build, or 
otherwise involve the church in expense, aside from the 
ordinary expenditures incurred by the proper care, re- 
pairs, and preservation of its property, without express 
authority from the church. Ib., §4. 

The term of office of such trustees may be regulated 
by by-law or resolution of the church, adopted before 
their election; and, without such regulation, the trustees 
shall continue in office one year from their election, and 
until their successors are chosen. Ib., $5. 

To secure a line of succession in the trustees the mem- 
bers of the church may assemble at any time, giving 
notice as hereinbefore directed, or may so assemble for 
the election of any other trustee or trustees in the place of 
those before elected, in case they see cause for their re- 
moval, and also to fill any vacancies caused by the death, 
resignation, or the removal of any trustee out of the limits 
of the congregation. Ib., $6. 

Any Baptist church already incorporated may obtain 
the privileges of this act by complying with the provisions 
of the act. P. L., 1876, p. 323. 

Elections of trustees will not be invalid for the want of 
the statutory notice in any case where the time of elec- 
tion is regulated by a rule or standing resolution of the 
church. P. L., 1872, p. 147, §8. 

Any Baptist church incorporated under the general act, 
Rey, April 9, 1875, shall have power to make such regula- 


30 


tions for the transaction of its business, the number and 
election of its officers, the support of public worship, the 
calling to and the dismissal from the pastoral office, the 
proceedings of the board of trustees, and the defining of 
the duties and powers of such board, as may be deemed 
from time to time necessary and expedient. Ib., §9. 

The provisions of the first eight sections of the revision 
continue to apply to Baptist societies. 

If a Baptist society desires to increase the number of its 
trustees it may, at any election for trustees, elect an ad- 
ditional number of persons as trustees, not to exceed 
fifteen in all; provided, that notice of the intention to 
elect such additional number shall have been given in the 
manner and for the length of time prescribed for the 
original election of trustees. P. L., 1894, p. 187. 

Any Baptist church, whether incorporated under gen- 
eral or special laws, may, at a regular meeting of the 
members, held in its usual place of meeting, by a majority 
vote of the members present, change its corporate name; 
provided, that at least ten days’ previous notice be given 
of the time, place, and hour of such meeting, by notice 
posted in a conspicuous place at or near the usual place 
of meeting, signed by the clerk, or clerk pro tempore, of 
the church. 

A certificate that notice has been duly given, and stat- 
ing the former name of the church and the name to which 
the same has been changed, and the proceedings con- 
cerning such change of name, signed by the presiding 
officer of the meeting and the clerk, and duly verified by 
the oath or affirmation of the clerk, shall be filed in the 
office of the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the 
county, and immediately after such filing the church is 
known in law by the new name. P. L., 1883, p. 205. 

Any incorporated association of Baptist churches may 
change its corporate name by a majority vote of its mem- 
bers at any regular meeting, specifying by such vote what 
the new corporate name shall be. A certificate of such 
vote stating the old and the new name of the association, 


31 


over the hand of the presiding officer, and attested correct 
by the clerk, shall be filed in the office of the secretary of 
state. P. L., 1883, p. 49. 

All the property belonging to or held in trust for any 
Baptist church that becomes extinct, shall vest in and 
become the property of “The New Jersey Baptist State 
Convention,” and its successors and assigns. 

This provision shall not affect the title to any Baptist 
church or Baptist religious society that is held by any 
of the Baptist associations of this State, nor shall it 
affect the reversionary interest of any person in such prop- 
erty. P. L., 1886, p. 70. 


CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCHES. 


The provisions of sections thirteen to twenty-four, in- 
clusive, of the general act of 1875, and the provisions of 
other acts of the legislature relating to the incorporation 
of trustees of religious societies applying to Reformed 
or Reformed Dutch churches, are construed to extend and 
apply to the religious sucieties or congregations of the 
State, now or formerly known as True Reformed Dutch 
churches or Christian Reformed churches, and all pro- 
ceedings taken by such True Reformed Dutch churches or 
Christian Reformed churches to incorporate themselves 
and to exercise corporate powers, are made valid. P. L., 
1892, p. 111. 


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES. 

The provisions relating to the incorporation, rights, 
privileges, and duties of the Reformed, formerly the Re- 
formed Dutch church, and also of the German Reformed 
churches, are extended to all the Evangelical Lutheran 
churches that are or may be constituted within the State. 
P. L., 1855, p. 93. 

Every congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church of the State which have organized according to the 
provisions of the first section of the act entitled “ An act 
to incorporate trustees of religious societies,” approved 


32 


April 17, 1846, is constituted a body politic and corporate 
in law, from the date of such organization, by whatever 
name it may have assumed; and the certificate of every 
such incorporation, notwithstanding any defect or in- 
sufficiency in the form, as recorded in the clerks’ offices 
of the several counties, and also the acts and proceedings 
of such corporations, are ratified and confirmed. All con- 
veyances and mortgages made to or by such corporations 
under such organizations are made legal and effectual to 
the extent that the same would have been legal and 
effectual if such organizations had been duly incorporated 
under the provisions of sections eleven to twenty-one, in- 
clusive, of the general act to incorporate the trustees of 
religious societies. 

Any Evangelical Lutheran church may, at the option 
of a majority of the members, become incorporated under 
the provisions of the first and second sections of the gen- 
eral act of 1875. P.L., 1884, p. 263. 


GERMAN REFORMED CHURCHES. 


As, according to the constitution, usages, and customs 
of the German Reformed churches, the minister, elders, 
and deacons thereof, for the time being, have the man- 
agement of the temporalities of such churches, in like 
manner as the minister, elders, and deacons of the Re- 
formed, formerly the Reformed Dutch churches, within 
the State, so it is provided that all the provisions of the 
generai act of 1875 relating as well to the incorporation 
as to the rights, privileges, and duties of the Reformed, 
formerly the Reformed Dutch churches, are extended to 
all such German Reformed churches as are or shall be 
constituted within the State. Rev.—Approved April 9, 
1875, §25. 

ISRAELITES. 


The first eight sections of the revision of 1875 apply to 
any religious society or congregation of Israelites, other- 
wise called Hebrews or Jews, within the State. P. L,, 
1860, p. 51. 


33 


The former proceedings of societies or congregations of 
Israelites are confirmed and made valid, and all convey- 
ances and mortgages of rea] and personal property made 
by or to such societies, are confirmed and declared valid 
by an act approved March 31, 1890. 


METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. 


In all cases where any Methodist Episcopal church 
owns any lands and real estate, not used or occupied for 
burial or other purposes, such church may sell and convey 
the same to the purchaser thereof by deed, in the corpor- 
ate name of such church, and invest the proceeds of such 
sale in the purchase of other lands and the erection of 
buildings thereon for the use of said church; provided, 
such sale shall be in pursuance of a resolution of the 
board of trustees of such church. P. L., 1883, p. 108. 

In aJl cases where the conveyance of any lands and real 
estate has been made to the trustees of any Methodist 
Episcopal church, as trustees of such church, such trus- 
tees and their successors may convey the same to the par- 
ticular church of which they are trustees by its corporate 
name; and such a conveyance shall vest in such church 
as good, effectual, and valid title as if the conveyance to 
such trustees had been to such church in its corporate 
name. P. L., 1883, p. 115. 

The trustees of a Methodist Episcopal church closed the 
church building against the duly appointed preacher, on 
the ground that it was not for the interest of the church 
that he should be its pastor, and that he was appointed 
against the wish of a majority of its members. It was 
held by the court that they had no right to do so, and, 
after answer, a mandatory injunction was issued requir- 
ing them to open the building to the preacher and the 
congregation. Whitecar v. Michnor, 10 Stew., 6. 


PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 


In all cases where the conveyance of lands and real 
estate has been made to the trustees of any Presbyterian 


34 


church, as trustees of said church, such trustees, or their 
successors in office, are authorized to convey the same to 
the particular church of which they are trustees by its 
corporate name; and such conveyance shall vest in such 
church as good, effectual, and valid title as if the convey- 
ance to such trustees had been to such church in its cor- 
porate name. P. L., 1885, p. 11. 

Any presbytery of the Presbyterian church of the 
United States of America that is, or may be, incorporated 
under the provisions of the general act, which desires to 
avail itself of the provisions of any other act or acts 
providing for the incorporating of presbyteries, may do 
so by resolution of the board of trustees of such presby- 
tery. 

The president of such board of trustees shall make a 
certificate of such resolution, and of the change or 
changes in organization or powers intended thereby to 
be accomplished, and of the act or acts of the provisions 
whereof it is intended to take advantage, which certifi- 
cate, under the hand of the president and sealed with the 
seal of the presbytery, shall be recorded in the office of the 
Secretary of State. A copy of such certificate, duly certi- 
fied under the hand and official seal of the Secretary of 
State, shall be received in evidence in any of the courts of 
the State. P. L., 1894, p. 334. 

In Presbyterian societies the congregation is regarded 
by the civil law as the substantial, beneficial owners of 
the church property, and the trustees as the legal instru- 
ments to execute their will, and such trustees are regarded 
as having no legal right to attempt to defeat an agree- 
ment entered into by the congregation. Worrall v. First 
Church of Millstone, 8 C. E. Gr., 96. 

An election of trustees of a Presbyterian church, by 
persons who are not contributors to the support of the 
church, and therefore not qualified by the rule of the 
church to vote, is void. State v. Crowell, 4 Hal., 390. 

An information in the nature of quo warranto was al- 
lowed in this case to determine who were the lawful trus- 
tees. 

35 


PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. 


The wardens and vestrymen, for the time being, of 
every Protestant Episcopal church, not especially incor- 
porated, shall be the trustees of the same, and a body cor- 
porate and politic in law, by such name as the trustees 
shall assume in the manner mentioned in the second sec- 
tion of the act of April 9, 1875. Rev. §27. 

Any Protestant Episcopal churches not incorporated 
under this act may avail themselves of the provisions of 
this act on certifying their intention so to do, to the clerk 
of the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which such 
churches may be situate; and it shall be the duty of the 
said clerk instantly to record the same. Rey. § 28. 

When any congregation, duly organized according to 
the constitution and usages of the Protestant Episcopal 
church desire to form themselves into a body corporate, 
notice shall be given of such intention ten days pre- 
viously, by an advertisement set up in open view at or 
near the place where such congregation usually assemble 
for divine service, designating the day when, and the 
place where, they design to meet for that purpose. Ib., 
§ 29. 

The congregation having met at the time and place ap- 
pointed, the rector or minister, or if there be no rector or 
minister, or if he be necessarily absent, one of the church 
wardens or vestrymen shall preside at the meeting, and 
the secretary of the vestry shall record the proceedings of 
the meeting. The congregation shall then proceed, by a 
vote of the majority of those present, to designate the cor- 
porate name or title by which the church shall be known, 
which shall be in the manner and form as follows: 

“ The rector, wardens, and vestrymen of 
church in ————————-;” the congregation shall then 
proceed to choose two wardens, and not more than ten nor 
less than five vestrymen; and also to fix the day, annu- 
ally, on which new elections of officers shall take place. 
A certificate of these proceedings, under the hands and 
seals of the president and secretary of the meeting, shall 


36 


be transmitted to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas 
of the county, who shall record the same and receive one 
dollar for the service. Ib., §30. 

The rector, wardens, and vestrymen so appointed shall 
be a body corporate and politic, in law and in fact, to have 
continuance forever under the same restrictions, and with 
the same rights, powers, and privileges as are granted to 
and imposed on trustees by the first sections and the 
twelfth section of the general act; provided, nevertheless, 
if at any time the church be without a minister or rector, 
the same rights and privileges shall be vested in the 
wardens and vestrymen. 

The rector, wardens, and vestrymen, and their succes- 
sors, or a majority of them, may make such rules, by-laws, 
and ordinances, and do everything needful and requisite 
for the good government and support of the church; all 
of which shall be entered in a book to be provided and 
kept for that purpose; provided, that such rules, by-laws, 
and ordinances shall not be repugnant to the constitution 
and laws of this State and of the United States. Rey. 
$32. 

The qualifications of voters at the annual elections 
shall conform to the constitution and principles of the 
Protestant Episcopal church in New Jersey. Ib., §33. 

The rector, wardens, and vestrymen shall choose a 
treasurer, who, when cailed upon for that purpose, shall 
render:a true and just account to the corporation of all 
moneys by him received and expended, and pay over the 
balance which may remain in his hands at the time of set- 
tlement to his successor in office. Ib., §34. 

When a vacancy shall occur in the office of minister 
or rector, by death, removal, or otherwise, the wardens 
and vestrymen, two-thirds of them concurring in the 
choice, may choose some fit person, duly qualified to act as 
minister or rector of the church, agreeably to the constitu- 
tion of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United 
States of America. The minister or rector so chosen shall 
preside at all meetings of the wardens and vestrymen, 


37 


and have a casting vote, except when the business or 
question to be decided has relation to the personal in- 
terests of the said minister or rector; provided, in the 
absence of the president the wardens and vestrymen may 
choose a president pro tempore. Ib., $35. 

It shall be lawful for any Protestant Episcopal church 
in the State, heretofore incorporated, to embrace the 
privileges of this act by complying with and adopting its 
provisions. Ib., §86. 

Whereas, the legislature by an act passed February 17, 
1829, granted to Episcopal congregations the privilege 
of becoming incorporated according to the “ constitution, 
usages, and customs of the Protestant Episcopal church ” 
in New Jersey, and did not require any oath to be taken or 
subscribed by the wardens and vestrymen of such 
churches, and, whereas, under the present revised stat- 
utes, doubts have arisen whether the wardens and ves- 
trymen of Episcopal churches are not required to take 
and subscribe the oaths specified in the act to incorporate 
religious societies, which provision would occasion great 
inconvenience, and be entirely “inconsistent with the 
constitution, usages, and customs of the Protestant Epis- 
copal church in this State”; therefore the wardens and 
vestrymen of the Protestant Episcopal churches now in- 
corporated, or hereafter to be incorporated in the State, 
shall not be required to take or subscribe the oaths speci- 
fied in Section 34 of the act entitled “ An act to incorpor- 
ate trustees of religious societies,” approved April 17, 
1846; and that the acts and proceedings of the wardens 
and vestrymen of such Episcopal churches as have 
omitted to take and subscribe such oaths, are declared as 
valid and effectual in law as if such oaths had been pre- 
viously taken and subscribed. 

All the provisions of this act relating to the Protestant 
Episcopal church, shall be. equally applicable to the 
church now designated “the Reformed Episcopal 
ehureh)?))'P. T1875) p32. | 

Every religious corporation which has been created by 


38 


act of the legislature, or by letters patent, may acquire, 
purchase, receive, have, and hold any lands, tenements, 
hereditaments, legacies, donations, moneys, goods, and 
chatteis of the yearly value of two thousand dollars, al- 
though such act or letters patent contain a restrictive 
clause, limiting the annual revenue and income of the 
said corporation toa lesssum. Rey. §38. 

Any congregation may increase or decrease the number 
of vestrymen by a majority vote of those present at any 
annua! election, statutory notice having been given, pro- 
vided, that no church shall have more than ten nor less 
than five vestrymen. A certificate of such change, under 
the hands and seals of the president and secretary, shall 
be filed with the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and 
be considered a part of the act of incorporation. The 
rights of property are not affected by such change. P. L., 
1877, p. 148. 

Any parish in which a vacancy shall occur in the office 
of warden or vestryman by any cause may fill such va- 
cancy by an election to be held for that purpose, after 
ten days’ notice, held at the place appointed for holding 
the annual parish elections, and for the unexpired term 
only. P. L., 1883, p. 256. 

Any congregation of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the State, incorporated under the general act, and hav- 
ing filed a certificate stating the day on which new elec- 
tions of officers shall annually take place, and desiring 
to change the day of such annual elections, may make 
such change at any annual election, by a majority vote of 
the members present duly qualified to vote, on notice for 
the statuary period of time. A certificate of the proceed- 
ings of the meeting, relating to such change, under the 
hands and seals of the presiding officer and the secretary 
shall be filed for record in the office in which the certifi- 
cate of incorporation of such congregation is filed, and 
shall thereafter be a part of such act of incorporation. 
When a congregation shall so change the day of its an- 
nual elections, the officers elected at the time when such 


39 


change is made, or then in office, in case there shall be a 
failure to elect new officers, or such as may thereafter be 
elected at a special meeting, shall continue in office until 
the first annual election after the meeting at which such 
change is made, or until their successors shall be elected. 
Approved March 22, 1898. 

Whenever any diocese shall be created in this State 
by the authority of the General Convention of the 
Protestant Episcopal church in the United States of 
America, and desire to be incorporated, the conven- 
tion of such diocese at a regular meeting in which a 
majority of the parishes belonging thereto are repre- 
sented by both clerical and lay deputies may, by resolu- 
tion, declare their intention to become incorporated; and 
upon their filing with the Secretary of State a copy of 
such resolution, together with a certificate stating the 
name of the diocese, with the name of its president, sec- 
retary, and standing committee, which shall consist of 
not less than four clerical and four lay members, signed 
by the president and secretary in the presence of the 
Chancellor, or of a Justice of the Supreme Court, and the 
convention shall thereupon become a body corporate by 
the name so certified. P. L., 1880, p. 26. 

All the property of the diocese shall vest in and be 
managed by such corporation, which shall also be capable 
of taking and holding by gift, grant, devise, bequest, or 
otherwise any property in trust for religious, ecclesiasti- 
cal, charitable, or educational objects, appertaining to or 
under the control of said convention, or other ecclesiasti- 
eal authority of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
diocese, and of executing the same; provided, that the 
same shall not be inconsistent with the constitution, 
canons, or laws of such church. Ib., §2. 

Such a corporation may appoint or elect in their own 
manner discreet persons as trustees, not less than five, 
who shall be members of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, citizens of the State, residing within the limits of 
the diocese; and upon the filing with the Secretary of 


40 


State a certificate, under the hand and seal of the presi- 
dent and secretary of the convention, stating the corpo- 
rate name selected for such trustees, and the names of the 
trustees, shall become a body corporate under the certi- 
fied name. Ib., §3. 

The trustees, when so incorporated, shall have the man- 
agement of any fund already existing, or which may be 
received, and any accumulations thereof, for the support 
of the episcopate of the diocese, and the appropriation of 
the income of such fund for that purpose according to the 
direction of the convention of the diocese. They shall 
also be capable of taking and holding property in trust 
for religious, ecclesiastical, charitable, or educational 
purposes, under the control of the convention or other 
ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, and of executing 
the same when not inconsistent with the law of the 
church. Ib., §4. 

Such trustees shall present to each regular diocesan 
convention a statement of their proceedings, exhibiting 
the condition of the fund, with an account of their re- 
ceipts and disbursements. They may also provide by- 
laws for the removal of a trustee for good cause, and on 
such removal, may declare the place vacant, and fill the 
same until the next regular meeting of the convention, 
which body shall permanently fill all vacancies. Ib., 85. 

Whenever any diocese has been or shall be divided into 
two or more dioceses, the body of trustees having control 
of the fund for the support of the bishop of the original 
or dividing diocese may make such division of all bonds, 
mortgages, securities, or property as may be or may 
have been agreed upon by the original and the new dio- 
cese, whether after or in ptospect of such division, and 
to assign, transfer, and set over the same to such trus- 
tees as may be appointed for the new diocese, to hold to 
them snd their successors for the trusts upon them im- 
posed. 

In case of such division so effected, all trusts in relation 
to the securities so conveyed, incumbent upon the former 


41 


trustees, shall ipso facto cease and be discharged. Ib., $6. 

The convention of any diocese that is or may be incor- 
porated may, at any regular meeting by resolution, 
change the corporate name of the diocese, and may also 
by resolution change the corporate name of any or all 
boards of trustees by them selected that are or may be- 
come :ncorporated, and such change of name shall take 
effect upon filing with the Secretary of State a copy of 
such resolutions, certified by the president and secretary 
of the convention, and acknowledged by them before a 
master in chancery. P. L., 1887, p. 121. 

The property heid by such corporations will not be 
affected by such a change of name. Ib., §2. 

After such a change of name such corporations shall 
have the power under such new name to receive, hold, 
convey, and administer all estates, gifts, bequests, de- 
vises, conveyances, and trusts to them conveyed by their 
former name. Ib., §3. 

Such change of name shall not impair any legal lia- 
bility or obligation of or to such corporations. Ib., §4. 

The English ecclesiastical law has been declared by the 
courts to be the basis of the law regulating the affairs of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is in force, except 
so far as it has been modified by the civil statutes or by 
the canons and usages of the church. 

By force of the act for the incorporation of religious 
societies, and the supplements thereto, the wardens and 
vestrymen of the church are the trustees of the church, 
and to the rector, wardens, and vestrymen is committed 
the entire control over the temporalities of the church. 
Livingston v. Trinity Church, 16 Vr., 230. 

The call of a rector by a vestry, and the acceptance of 
such call, creates a contract for the payment of the stipu- 
lated salary so long as the pastoral relation continues. 
This contract is a civil right which the courts will protect 
and enforce. Jennings v. Scarborough, 27 Vr., 402. 

By the canon law of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
a rector canonically elected and in charge can not resign 


42 


his parish without the consent of his parish or its vestry, 
nor can such rector be removed therefrom by the parish 
or its vestry against his will, except upon the dissolution 
of his pastoral connection in the manner and by the au- 
thority designated by such canon law. Ib. 

A minister of the Protestant Episcopal church has 
either the possession of the church edifice or a right, in 
the nature of an easement, to enter therein on all occa- 
sions set apart in the parish for divine services, and a sub- 
stantial interference with such right will lay the ground 
for an action at law. 

In order to vest the pastor with the ordinary rights 
in the temporalities pertaining to his office, it is not neces- 
sary for the congregation to be incorporated, nor that the 
title to the church property should be lodged in such con- 
gregation. Lynd v. Menzies, 4 Vr., 162. 


REFORMED DUTCH CHURCHES. 


The minister or ministers, elders and deacons, for the 
time being, or if there be no minister or ministers, the 
elders and deacons for the time being, of every Reformed, 
formerly the Reformed Dutch, congregation, shall be the 
trustees of the same, and a body politic and corporate in 
law, by such name as such trustees shall assume in the 
manner directed. Rev., $13. 

Such trustees, when they take upon themselves a name, 
shall certify such name under their hands and seals, and 
transmit such certificate to the clerk of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of the county, who shall instantly record the 
same, and receive as fee one dollar, and thereupon such 
trustees shall be known in law by the name of incorpora- 
tion so certified and recordéd. Ib., §14. 

Such trustees are able to acquire, purchase, receive, 
have, and hold any lands, tenements, hereditaments, leg- 
acies, donations, moneys, goods, and chattels in trust for 
the use of such congregation, and the same, or any part 
thereof, to sell, grant, assign, demise, alien, or dispose 
of; to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, in any 


43 


court of law or equity; to make and use a common seal, 
and the same to alter and renew at their pleasure; but no 
deed or instrument of conveyance for any lands, tene- 
ments. or hereditaments or real estate shall be eifectual 
in law, unless it be sealed with the common seal and 
signed by a majority of the members of such corporation. 
Ib., §15. 

Reformed churches, incorporated by charter or other- 
wise, may renounce such charter or special act of incor- 
poration, by a writing under their hands and seals, and 
recorded, upon condition that the ministers, elders, and 
deacons, or elders and deacons, as the case may require, 
of such congregation shall incorporate themselves under 
this act. Upon such incorporation and the recording of 
such writing, their former incorporation shall be dis- 
solved, and all the estate held by virtue of the same shall 
be vested in the body politic formed according to this 
act, who shall be deemed to be the legal successors to the 
former body politic and liable to their debts. Ib., $16. 

When two or more congregations which have been 
united in one body politic shall be disunited by renounc- 
ing or foregoing their former incorporation, and shall 
each or any of them become incorporated under this act, 
then such lands, tenements, hereditaments, moneys, 
goods, and chattels as belong to each of such congrega- 
tions, separately considered, shall remain in the peacea- 
ble possession of the body politic of that particular church 
to which such estate belongs; and al! property acquired 
by such congregations, during their union as a body poli- 
tic, shall be divided between such congregations in the 
maner agreed upon by the trustees of such corporation. 
Ib., §17. 

If the trustees of any two or more congregations see 
cause to renounce or forego their separate corporations, 
and be formed into one joint corporation, such trustees 
may, by mutual consent, renounce or forego their sepa- 
rate acts of incorporation by a writing, under their hands 
and seals, which shall signify also their intention to be- 


tt 


come one joint corporation, and shall be recorded, upon 
condition that such trustees form themselves into one 
corporation according to this act. 

Upon the recording of such writing, and after such 
joint incorporation under this act, their former separate 
incorporations shall cease and be dissolved, and all the 
estate held by them separately shall pass to and be vested 
in the trustees of such joint corporation, who shall be 
deemed the legal successors in office of the former sepa- 
rate bodies politic, and liable to their debts. Ib., $18. 

In order to perpetuate a line of succession in the trus- 
tees of any congregation, such minister or ministers, 
elders and deacons cf such congregation, as shall take and 
record a name, as directed, shall be the first trustees of 
the same, and shall continue in office until others be duly 
elected, appointed, or called according to the usage of the 
Reformed church. Every minister, elder, or deacon, so 
constituting a trustee, shall continue in office until an- 
other person shall, in like manner, be elected, appointed, 
or called in his stead, and so on as often as occasion may 
require. If any dispute arise respecting the validity of 
the election, appcintment, or call of such trustees, it shall 
be referred for final decision to the superior church judi- 
cature, to which such congregation is subordinate, ac- 
cording to the constitution of the Reformed church. Ib., 
§18. 

The person who is according to the usage of the Re- 
formed church ordinarily to preside at the meeting of the 
minister, elders, and deacons of a congregation, shall be 
president of the corporation. He is empowered to con- 
vene the corporation as occasion may require, and at the 
request of any two or more of the members it is his 
duty to convene the corporation in the manner and under 
such regulations as the corporation shall from time to 
time direct. Ib., §20. 

The corporation may from time to time appoint some 
fit person belonging to the congregation, who shall have 
the custody of the common seal and the papers, deeds, 


45 


writings, documents, and books of or relating to the cor- 
poration, who shall keep the minutes and enter the pro- 
ceedings ot the corporation in a book to be kept for that 
purpose, and who shall deliver all such property of the 
corporation in his custody, when demanded, to the cor- 
poration, under sucb pecuniary penalty as they shall have 
previously fixed and ordained. {b., §21. 

Every person of such congregation who regularly con- 
tributes to the support of the gospel in such congregation, 
shall have free access to all the papers, deeds, writings, 
minutes, documents, and books, of or belonging to the 
corporation. Ib., §22. 

The proceedings, orders, and acts of a majority of all 
the members of the corporation, but not of a less number, 
shall be valid and effectual in law. Ib., $23. 

No member of the corporation shall be allowed to vote 
in any matter or thing which immediately affects himself, 
his private interest, oremolument. Ib., $24. 

As stated, in the Reformed Dutch church, the civil of- 
fice of trustee grows out of the ecclesiastical office of 
minister, elder, and deacon. Every minister, elder, and 
deacon properly called and instituted is, by virtue of his 
office, a trustee, and must of necessity remain such as 
long as his ecclesiastical office continues. 

Such ministers, elders, and deacons, lawfully elected 
and ordained, and thus inducted into office, though they 
secede, renounce the authority of the classis and General 
Synod, and unite with another ecclesiastical body, do not 
thereby, in law, divest themselves of their offices. 

There must be a removal or amotion, by a competent 
power, to determine an office. If there be a resignation, 
the resignation must be accepted, and if there be an abso- 
lute vacation of an office, such vacation must be recog- 
nized and acknowledged. When an original title to an 
office is sufficient, though good cause of amotion be 
shown, even in a case where the charter declares that 
for such cause of amotion the officer shall vacate his 
office, still the office is not determined until there is an 


46 


amotion. Doremus v. Dutch Reformed church, 2 Gr. Ch., 
332. 

All disputes arising in the Reformed Dutch churches 
respecting the validity of an election, and the appoiut- 
ment or call of elders and deacons, must be referred to the 
church judicatory, to wuich the congregation is subordi- 
nate; that is, first to the classis, then to particular synod, 
and lastly, to the General Synod. 

The decision of the classis upon any such election, ap- 
pointment, or cail, is final, unless appealed from; and its 
decision will be respected by the Supreme Court, and 
full effect given to it. ‘Though the consistory may be 
dissatisfied with the decision of the classis, they can not 
get clear of such a decision by changing their allegiance. 

Whomsoever the proper judicatory of the Dutch Re- 
formed church decide to be the spiritual officers the Su- 
preme Court will respect as such. Den Day v. Bolton, 7 
Hal., 206. 


REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. 
All the provisions of the statutes relating to the Prot- 
estant Episcopal church are applicable to the church des- 


ignated the “ Reformed Episcopal church.” P. L., 1875, 
p. 32. 


ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES. 


Any Roman Catholic church or congregation may be- 
come incorporated. P. L., 1864, p. 37. 

The bishop of the diocese in which a church or congre- 
gation may be, the vicar-general of the diocese, or, dur- 
ing a vacancy in such offices, the administrator of the 
diocese for the time being, and the pastor of the congre- 
gation for the time being, or a majority of them, may 
elect two lay members of such congregation, and may 
with such laymen, sign a certificate, setting forth the 
name by which they and their successors shall be known 
as a body corporate, and transmit such certificate to the 
clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the county, who 


47 


shall file and record it, for which service he shall receive 
one dollar. 

The church or congregation thereupon becomes a body 
corporate by the title so taken, certified, and recorded. 
P. L., 1864, p. 57, §2; P. L., 1874, p. 94, §1. 

The persons signing such a certificate shall be the trus- 
tees of such corporations, and they and their successors 
by such name of incorporation may acquire, purchase, 
receive, have, and hold any lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments, legacies, donations, moneys, goods, and chattels in 
trust for the use of such congregation to an amount not 
exceeding three thousand dollars a year, exclusive of the 
church edifices, school houses, and parsonages, and the 
lands whereon such are or may be erected, and burying 
places, and the same or any part thereof to sell, grant, 
assign, demise, alien, and dispose of; to sue and be sued, 
plead and be impleaded, in any court of law or equity; 
to make and use a common seal, and the same to alter and 
renew at their pleasure. Ib., $3. 

In order to perpetuate a line of succession in the trus- 
tees of every such congregation, the successor in office, 
for the time being, of such bishop, vicar-general, and 
rector, respectively, shall, by virtue of his office, be a trus- 
tee in place of his predecessor, and such lay members 
shall hold their office for one year, and the office of any 
such layman shall become vacant by his removal out 
of the limits of the congregation, and whenever the office 
of any such layman shall become vacant by death, remo- 
val, resignation, or otherwise, his successor shall be ap- 
pointed in the manner provided for the selection of the 
original lay members of such board of trustees. Ib., 
§4. 

Such a corporation may elect annually, or oftener if 
expedient, one of their members to be president, who 
shall keep the minutes and enter the proceedings of the 
corporation in a book to be kept for that purpose; and 
shall have custody of the common seal and the papers, 
documents, deeds, writings, and books of or relating to 


48 


the corporation, and who may convene the corporation as 
occasion may require. Ib., $5. 

The acts of a majority of all the members of the cor- 
poration, but not of a less number, are effectual in law 
if they receive the sanction of the bishop, or, in his ab- 
sence, of the vicar-general, or, in case of a vacancy in that 
office, of the administrator of the diocese for the time 
being. Ib., 86; P. L., 1874, p. 94. 

If any such corporation shall become dissolved by fail- 
ure to continue the succession of trustees, it may be re- 
vived, and the congregation re-incorporated, at any time 
within six years of the date of such dissolution; and there- 
upon all the property belonging to such dissolved corpora- 
tion at the time of its dissolution shall vest in such new 
corporation. Ib., §7. 

Any incorporated religious association may organize 
under these provisions, and upon the certificate required, 
together with a certificate signed by the trustees of such 
association, consenting to such organization, all the right, 
title, and interest of such association, in any estate, real 
or personal, shall be vested in the said body corporate, 
subject to all the legal liabilities of the association, and 
the original incorporation of the association shall be null 
and void. P. L., 1865, p. 422. 


CASES CITED. 


American Primitive Society v. Pilling, 4 Zab., 653, pp. 
4,9, 10. 

Associate Reformed Church v. Trustees, 3 Gr. Ch., 77, p. 
6. 

Den. Day v. Bolton, 7 Hal., 206, pp. 3, 47. 

Doremus v. Dutch Church, 2 Gr. Ch., 332, pp. 4, 47. 

Hendrickson v. Decow., Sax., 578, pp. 4, 7, 10. 

Jennings v. Scarborough, 27 Vr., 402, pp. 7, 42. 

Livingston v, Trinity Church, 16 Vr., 230, p. 42. 

Ludlam v. Higbee, 3 Stock., 342, p. 8. 

Lutheran Church v. Maschop, 2 Stock., 57, p. 8. 

Lynd v. Menzies, 4 Vr., 162, p. 43. 


49 


Miller v. Baptist Church, 1 Harr., 251, p. 3. 

Miller v. English, 1 Zab., 307, pp. 3, 9, 10. 

Morgan v. Rose, 7 C. EF. Gr., 583, p. 6. 

Presbyterian Church v. Andruss, 1 Zab., 325, p. 7. 

Ranier v. Howell, 1 Stock., 121, p. 8. 

State v. Crowell, 4 Hal., 390, p. 35. 

Swedesborough Church v. Shivers, 1 C. E. Gr., 453, p. 6. 

Trustees v. Silverthorn, 23 Vr., 73, p. 5. 

Van Houten v. First Reformed Dutch Church, 2 C. E. 
Greeley. 

Van Houten v. McKelway, 2 ©. E. Gr., 126, p. 7. 

Van Horn v. Talmage, 4 Hal., Ch. 108, p. 7. 

Whitcar v. Michenor, 10 Stew., 6, p. 34. 

Worrall v. First Church, 8 C. E. Gr., 96, pp. 3, 4, 35. 








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